KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) - Army troops and police fired live bullets at rioting demonstrators Friday, and at least two people were killed and 120 wounded in the largest anti-government protest in sub-Saharan Africa this year.

Rioters burned tires in downtown streets as security forces fired tear gas and guns, and a Red Cross spokeswoman said 15 of the wounded and been hit by live bullets. Battles between protesters and police were also reported elsewhere around the country.

The protests are the first serious demonstrations in sub-Saharan Africa since a wave of anti-government protests swept leaders in Tunisia and Egypt out of power. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who has been in power for a quarter-century, has vowed repeatedly that his government will not be taken down by protests.

The breakout of violence came one day after a brutal takedown of the country's top opposition politician, Kizza Besigye. Police smashed through the window of Besigye's vehicle with the butt of a gun and doused him with tear gas at close range before bundling him into the back of a pickup truck and speeding off.

"They arrested him like a chicken thief. We cannot allow such things to continue. Museveni must go," said Brown Ndese, one of the protesters.

Besigye arrived in Kenya late Friday for medical treatment. He did not speak to journalists at Nairobi Hospital, and an aide said Besigye was physically unable to talk.

During Friday's protests, Red Cross spokeswoman Catherine Ntabadde said at least two people were killed and 120 people wounded. Uganda police spokeswoman Judith Nabakooba said the police were working to contain the demonstrations and did not immediately have a casualty figure.Some 360 people were arrested, the government said.

Besigye was freed on bail on Thursday but did not make any public appearances or statements on Friday. Radio reports quoted an aide as saying Besigye was in poor health and that he was to fly him out of the country for treatment.

Besigye withstood long volleys of tear gas sprayed directly on him Thursday, but it wasn't clear how sick or injured he was. Attempts to reach Besigye aides for comment failed.

Besigye has held five "walk to work" demonstrations to protest rising prices and what he calls a corrupt government. On Friday, demonstrators carried posters praising Besigye, and questioned why police needed to use violence to arrest him. Opposition members of parliament have demanded an explanation from the government over his treatment.

Ugandan Minister of Internal Affairs Kirunda Kivejinja said at a news conference Friday that police had no intention of arresting Besigye in such a harsh manner on Thursday.

"The way he was arrested was due to the way he reacted," Kivejinja said. "When police advised him not to use a particular road, he instead got out of his vehicle and called his supporters."

About comparisons to Arab uprisings, he said: "Uganda cannot be like Tunisia and Egypt. ... Here we simply have Besigye who does not want to cooperate. He is defiant against lawful orders."Earlier this month Besigye was shot in the right hand by what he says was a rubber bullet fired by police. He now wears a thick white cast that reaches halfway up his right arm.

Uganda's Daily Monitor newspaper reported on its website Friday that military forces and police fired live ammunition and tear gas at demonstrators in the eastern town of Mbale, some 200 miles (300 kilometers) outside Kampala. Demonstrators fought back with rocks.

The U.S. Embassy in Uganda condemned the escalation of violence and it called on all protesters to obey the law and cease all destruction of property.

"The U.S. Mission in Uganda also urges the Government of Uganda to respect the right of all citizens to peacefully express their views as enshrined by Uganda's constitution. Above all, Ugandan authorities must avoid using excessive force against civilians in this situation. Constructive dialogue is needed now," the U.S. statement said.

Besigye came second in Uganda's February presidential election to Museveni, threatening to end the opposition leader's political career after three straight losses to the longtime leader. Official returns showed Museveni winning 68 percent of the February vote, though Besigye says those returns were falsified and that both he and Museveni got just under 50 percent.

Besigye, though, has had a political resurrection in recent months as the country has seen huge price spikes in food and fuel.

In an interview with The Associated Press at his home last week, Besigye said many Ugandans face a "crisis of survival," that the health care system has broken down and that young people cannot find jobs.

Besigye was the president's personal physician before being dismissed for saying in 1999 the government was becoming a one-man dictatorship.

Uganda is a young country, with half its nearly 35 million citizens under 15. An estimated 1.2 million have HIV/AIDS. The average yearly income is just $1,200, though many here have hopes - and fears - over newly discovered oil that will soon be pumped. An oil curse has befallen other African countries, providing more incentive for corrupt leaders to remain in power in order to steal from public coffers.

According to a study from 2010, over 18% of girls are entering puberty at age 7.

Padded swimsuits for all? Abercrombie and Fitch marketing padded tops to young girls. For parents Claudia and Joe, the onset of daughter Laila's puberty has proven to be more stressful then they could have imagined.

By the time Laila was 6, she had grown pubic hair, and by age 7, her breasts had begun to develop according to USA Today. Out of respect for their daughter's privacy, the couple chose not to publish the family's last name.

Laila's case, however, is no longer a rare one. Doctors are finding early onset puberty more prevalent in young girls with no real understanding of the cause. According to a study from last year in the academic journal Pediatrics, about 15% of American girls now enter puberty by age 7. For African-American girls, like Laila, that statistic is even higher, with 23% hitting puberty at the same age.

"This is an issue facing the new generation," Laila's doctor Pisit (Duke) Pitukcheewanont, a pediatric endocrinologist at Children's Hospital of Los Angeles, who treats girls with early puberty told USA Today. "Many parents don't know what is going on."

In the past, girls would hit puberty much later thanks to poor nutrition and living conditions which prevented the accumulation of body fat many believe is necessary for the body to prepare for pregnancy. Today, most researchers have honed in on numerous reasons for childhood puberty including obesity, prematurity, genetics, hormone-like environmental chemicals, family stress or even, a brain tumor.

"Over the last 30 years, we've shortened the childhood of girls by about a year and a half," said Sandra Steingraber, author of a 2007 report on early puberty for the Breast Cancer Fund, an advocacy group. "That's not good." The consequences for early physical changes are equally numerous.

According to Steingraber's report, hitting puberty as a child increases girls' chances of depression, drinking, drug use, eating disorders, behavioral problems and attempted suicide. Physically, too, girls are at a higher risk of developing breast and uterine cancers because their bodies are exposed to estrogen for a longer period of time.

For others, like Laila, growth spurts at young ages limit the total amount of time the girl will grow in later years, leaving Laila - tall and slim now - to be shorter than many of her friends later, her father said.

Monthly hormone shots can offer some consolation for girls hoping to slow breast development and menstruation. Laila is undergoing one of the newer forms of hormone therapy which is implanted only once a year.

As of now, she has not experienced any side effects and her parents are planning for one more implantation before letting nature run its course. "She is still our baby," Claudia said. "But to look at her now, and think that she is growing faster than the average, we can't help but to feel like we are being rushed through her primary years."

Laurent Gbagbo's Interior Minister Dies in Hospital ABIDJAN, April 13 (Xinhua) -- The ex-interior minister in Gbagbo's government Desire Tagro died on Tuesday in an Abidjan hospital, a source close to the deposed leader's camp has revealed.

Tagro is said to have succumbed to the injuries he sustained because of bombardments carried out on the presidential residence where he was holed up with other confidants of Laurent Gbagbo. The source indicated further that Tagro could have died from the severe beating he received at the time of his arrest. But this information was not verified.

Tagro was a close confidant of Gbagbo and one of the most influential people in his government. He was instrumental in the drafting of the Ouagadougou Peace Accord (OPA) which was signed in 2007 between Guillaume Soro, the ex-rebel leader and Laurent Gbagbo.

This accord enabled the two leaders to bring the two protagonist camps together. In the last reshuffle of Gbagbo's government, Tagro left his docket of Interior minister to Emile Guirieoulou and took up the position of secretary general at the office of the president.

Gbagbo was arrested on Monday in Abidjan by forces allied to the president-elect Alassane Ouattara, after his residence came under heavy attack from UN and French Licorne forces' war-planes. Kwa habari zaidi someni:

Let me add the benefit of my time as a student and then resident in the UK - and I live in Dar now. The first thing that I discovered about UK-born, white, English undergraduates was that all of them did holiday or weekend job to support themselves - including the children of millionaires amongst them. It is the norm over there - regardless how wealthy theirparents are. And I soon discovered that virtually all other foreign students did the same - the exception being those of us status-conscious Tanzanians.

I also watched Richard Branson (owner of Virgin Airline)speaking on the Biography Channel and, to my amazement, he said that his young children travel in the economy class -even when the parents (he and his wife) are in upper class.

Richard Branson is a billionaire in Pound Sterling. A quick survey would show you that only children from Tanzania fly business or upper class to commence their studies in the UK. No other foreign students do this.

There is no aircraft attached to the office of the prime minister in the UK - he travels on BA. And the same goes for the Royals. The Queen does not have an aircraft for her exclusive use.

These practices simply become the culture which the next generation carries forward. Have you seen the car that Kate Middleton(the lady soon to marry Prince William) drives? VW Golf or something close to it. But there's one core difference between them and us(generally speaking). They (even the billionaires among them) work for their money, we steal ours!

If we want our children to bring about the desired change we have been praying for on behalf of our dear country, then please, please let's begin now and teach them to work hard so they can stand alone and most importantly be content, and not having to "steal", which seem to be the norm these days.

"30 is the new 18", which seem to be the new age for testing out the world in Tanzania now. That seems to be an unspoken but widely accepted mindset among the last 2 generations of parents in Tanzania.

At age 18 years, a typical young adult in the UK leaves the clutches of his/her parents for the University, chances are, that's the last time those parents will ever play "landlord" to their son or daughter except of course the occasional home visits during the academic year.

At 21 years and above or below, the now fully grown and independent minded adult graduates from University, searches for employment, gets a job (could be in another city from the parents) and shares a flat with other young people on a journey into becoming fully fledged adults.

I can hear the echo of parents saying, well, that is because the UK economy is thriving, safe, well structured and jobs are everywhere? I beg to differ and I ask that you kindly hear me out. I am a UK trained Recruitment Consultant and I have been practicing for the past 10 years inTanzania. I have a broad range of experience from recruiting new graduates to executivedirector level of large corporations. In addition, I talk from the point of view of someone with relatively privileged upbringing. Driven to school every day, had my clothes washed for me, was barred from taking any part-time job during my A-levels so that I could concentrate onstudying for my exams?! BUT, I got the opportunity to live apart from my parentsfrom age 18 and the only time I came back home to stay was for 3 months eversummer, before I got married!

Am I saying that every parent should wash their hands off their children at age 18? No, not at all, of course, I enjoyed the savings that I made from living on and off at my parent's house in London - indeed that is the primary reason for my being able to buy myself a 3 bedroom flat inLondon at age 25 with absolutely no direct financial help from my parents! For me, pocket money stopped at age 22, not that it was ever enough for my lifestyle to compete with Paris Hilton's or Victoria Beckham's.

Meanwhile today, we have Tanzanian children who have never worked for 5 minutesin their lives insisting on flying "only" first or business class, carrying the latest Louis Vuitton ensemble, Victoria 's Secret underwear and wearing Jimmy Choo's, fully paid for by their "loving" parents.

I often get calls from anxious parents, my son graduated 2 years ago and is still looking for a job, can you please assist! Oh really! So where exactly is this "child" is my usual question. Why are you the one making this call dad/mum? I am yet to get a satisfactory answer, but between you and I, chances are that big boy is cruising around Dar with a babe dressed to the nines, in his dad's spanking new SUV with enough "pocket money" to put your salary to shame. It is not at all strange to have a 28 year old who has NEVER worked a day in his or her life in Tanzania but "earns" a six figure "salary" from parents for doing absolutely nothing.

I see them in my office once in a while, 26 years old with absolutely no skills to sell, apart from a shiny CV, written by his dad's secretary in the office. Of course, he has a driver at his beck and call and he is driven to the job interview. We have a fairly decent conversation and we get tothe inevitable question - so, what salary are you looking to earn? Answer comes straight out – Tshs 250,000.00. I ask if that is per month or per annum.

Of course it is per month. Oh, why do you think you should be earning that much on your first job? Well, because my current pocket money is Tshs 200,000.00 and I feel that an employer should be able to pay me more than my parents.

I try very hard to compose myself, over parenting is in my opinion the greatest evil handicapping the Tanzanian youth. It is at the root of our national malaise.

We have a youth population of tens of millions of who are being "breastfed and diapered" well into their 30s. Even though the examples I have given above are from parents of considerable affluence, similar patterns can be observed! Wake up mum! Wake up dad! You are practically loving your children to death! No wonder corruption continues to thrive. We have a society of young people who have been brought up to expect something for nothing, as if it were a birth right.

I want to encourage you to send your young men and women (anyone over 20 canhardly be called a child!) out into the world, maybe even consider reducing or stopping the pocket money to encourage them to think, explore and strive.

Let them know that it is possible for them to succeed without your "help". Take a moment to think back to your own time as a young man/woman, what if someone had kept spoon feeding you, would you be where you are today?

No tree grows well under another tree, children that are not exposed to challenges, don't cook well. That is why you see adults complaining, "my parents didn't buy clothes for me this christmas", ask him/her how old-30+. Because of the challenges we faced in our youth, we are where and what we today, this syndrome- my children will not suffer what I suffered isdestroying our tomorrow. Deliberately reduce their allowance or mum- don't cook on Saturday till late afternoon or evening-do as occasion deserve.

I learnt the children of a former Tanzanian Senior Official with all the stolen(billions) monies in their custody, still go about with security escort as wrecks. They are on drugs, several times because of the drug, they collapse in public places. The escort will quickly pack them and off they go, what a life. No one wants to marry them.

Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.- Henry Ford. Hard work does not kill, everything in Tanzania is going down, including family settings. It is time to cook our children, preparing them for tomorrow. We are approaching the season in Tanzania where only the RUGGED, will survive. How will your ward fare?

If the present generation of Tanzanian pilots retire, will you fly a plane flown by a young Tanzanian pilot, If trained in Tanzania? People now trave first class, who cannot spell GRADUATE or read an article without bomb blast!

Which Way Tanzania!, Which Way Tanzanians!! Is this how we will ALL sitand watch this country SINK?

Wednesday, April 06, 2011

The Award-Winning and International Acclaimed Trio will be performing LIVE at the Umoja Church Auditorium Sunday April 10th 2011 Evening from 5:30PM through 8:00PM This is a FREE concert, All are Welcome!

About Me

I worked for Tanzania's Daily News for 11 years leaving as a Senior Reporter. I love acting, films, short story writing and cooking. I blog in English and Swahili. I am a member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and AFTRA.
You can contact me at chemiche3@yahoo.com.